EU-US look to pool more personal data

Greater sharing of data will be one of the central issues when the EU-US summit examines co-operation in the field of justice and home affairs. A report will be presented on the potential for more pooling of personal data, in light of the work done by the EU-US high-level contact group on data protection set up in 2006. This will set out progress to date in mutual recognition of data protection regimes and propose a plan for the future.

Data sharing has become an important aspect of the EU-US discussions on visa- waivers, on which the summit will evaluate progress. The US is conducting bilateral negotiations with the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Malta on the security requirements necessary to join its visa-waiver programme, but talks are progressing at different speeds.

Hungary is already ratifying a data-sharing treaty resulting from the negotiations. Slovakia has adopted a “waiting position”, according to an official, and will continue negotiations once the results are clear from separate talks on visa-waivers between the European Commission and the US. The Commission has delayed publication of its annual visa reciprocity report, in order to be able to take into account results from the different negotiations.

Extradition treaties

The summit is also expected to evaluate progress on the ratification of the 2003 EU-US mutual legal assistance and extradition treaties. A report prepared by the general secretariat of the Council of Ministers, to be presented in advance of the summit, says that eight EU member states have still not completed the ratification process for the two treaties. The US senate, meanwhile, is pressing ahead with its ratification process.

The mutual legal assistance treaty covers access for judicial authorities to bank information, the use of video conferencing for taking testimony, and the participation of US law enforcement officers in EU joint investigation teams. The extradition treaty will expand the range of offences for which extradition can be sought – including, for the first time, cyber crime offenders.